NEW YORK – The reigning BIG EAST regular season and tournament champions, Creighton, was picked as the 2020 BIG EAST baseball preseason favorite in the annual December poll conducted by the league’s seven head coaches. Along with the poll, the coaches unanimously selected St. John’s outfielder Mike Antico as the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year. Butler junior starter Connor Schultz was voted Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
Along with the poll, the Preseason All-BIG EAST team was also announced. Antico and Schultz were unanimous selections at their respective positions. Of the 16-member squad, four received unanimous votes by the coaches, who could not cast ballots for their own players or team. Four players honored earned 2019 BIG EAST First Team accolades.
All seven teams are represented on the preseason all-conference team. Seton Hall and Xavier had the most selections with four each.
It was a close count with one point separating the top four teams, each of which received at least one first-place vote. Creighton received 29 points in the poll with two first-place votes. Tied for second in the preseason poll was Seton Hall, St. John’s and Xavier with 28 points each. The Pirates received three first-place votes, while St. John’s and Seton Hall split the final top votes. Butler was picked fifth with 14 points, followed by Villanova (11 points) and Georgetown (9 points).
Antico was named a preseason All-America candidate by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on Tuesday, earning a spot on the third team. The senior outfielder from Colts Neck, N.J. enjoyed a standout season for St. John’s in 2019. After batting .308 with five home runs and 21 RBIs for the BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament Champions as a sophomore in 2018, Antico stepped up his production last spring, hitting .386 with six long balls, 23 extra-base hits and 29 RBIs. He finished second in the BIG EAST and 22nd nationally in batting average while reaching base at a .500 clip, good enough for tops in the conference and 16th in Division I. Antico stole 20 bases on 24 attempts and became the first St. John’s player since 2012 to steal 20 or more bases in a single season. Antico was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, while also earning a spot on the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Region Second Team. In BIG EAST play, Antico hit .431 with four home runs in the 18-game schedule.
Along with Antico, St. John’s lefty starter Nick Mondak was also named to the preseason all-conference team. Mondak, a senior, started nine games in 2019, held batters to a .240 batting average with 34 strikeouts, 30 in his last six outings of the year. St. John’s finished the season last year tied for third with Seton Hall with a 9-9 league record and 31-23 overall record.
Schultz was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST preseason team. The junior righty from Cedar Falls, Iowa, returns to the mound this season for the Bulldogs after first team All-BIG EAST honors as a sophomore in 2019. Schultz ranked second in the BIG EAST and 44th in the NCAA in ERA (2.29), third in the BIG EAST in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.76) and was twice named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week. He posted a 6-1 record on the mound and started 13 games, throwing one complete game. In 78.2 innings pitched, he struck out 79, walking just 21 and limiting opposing batters to a .2333 average and just 20 earned runs. In BIG EAST games only, Schultz was second on the league leaderboard with a 1.73 ERA.
Creighton’s Ryan Mantle and Jared Wegner represented the Bluejays on the preseason all-league team. Mantle, an infielder and designated hitter for Creighton redshirted last season. As a junior in 2018, Mantle was an All-BIG EAST First Team honoree hitting .315 in conference play. Wegner was one of the three outfielders chosen after a stellar freshman season which resulted in 38 starts, a.294 average, 20 RBI, seven doubles and a home run.
The Pirates four picks included unanimous selection Matt Toke, 2019 First Team honoree Tyler Shedler-McAvoy and a pair of righty starters Noah Thompson and David Festa. Toke was a member of the 2019 All-BIG EAST second Team, making 51 starts at first base. Toke batted .290 with a career-high four home runs with 29 RBIs. He committed just one error in 398 defensive chances. Shedler-McAvoy started at center field for Seton Hall and led the Pirates in batting average (.324), hits (66), triples (6), RBIs (37) and stolen bases (22), which also led the BIG EAST. Thompson pitched to a 4-3 record and was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team. Opponents hit .206 against him as the regular Saturday starter with 73 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched. Festa made 10 starts as the Sunday starter with a 3-4 record and 4.42 ERA, 58 strikeouts with 25 walks in 53.0 innings pitched. Opponents batted .249 against him.
Xavier, the 2019 BIG EAST tournament runners-up, was represented on the preseason all-BIG EAST team with catcher Natale Monastra, second baseman Ryan Altenberger, shortstop Jack Housinger and relief pitcher Lane Flamm as a unanimous pick. Monastra hit .280 with five homers and 19 RBI as a sophomore in 2018 with 12 multi-hit games this season. Altenberger, a sophomore, hit three homers with 18 RBI in 52 games as a Musketeer infielder. He hit .226 with 14 doubles, leading the team with 42 runs scored. Housinger batted .275 in 2019 with 27 runs scored, 47 hits and 36 walks. He had 83 assists as an XU shortstop. Also a sophomore, Flamm pitched to a 2.68 ERA in 25 appearances. The closer earned a 3-2 record with eight saves. In BIG EAST play, Flamm earned four saves, tied for first in the league leaderboard. Flamm struck out 47 in 53.2 innings pitched.
Rounding out the preseason All-BIG EAST team was Villanova sophomores Nick LoRusso and Gordon Graceffo and Georgetown’s Eddie McCabe. LoRusso, a two-way player, earned preseason votes as both an infielder and righty starter. In 2019, he appeared in 16 games with 41.2 innings pitched and 32 strikeouts. At the plate, he batted .302 with 29 RBI, 54 hits, 26 runs and eight doubles. Graceffo, also a righty pitcher, appeared in 13 games, 72.0 innings pitched with 47 strikeouts and a .287 opposing batting average.
McCabe, a 2019 All-BIG EAST First Team honoree at third base, batted. 297 last season. He started in all 55 games with 29 runs, 62 hits, 12 doubles, three triples, two home runs and 36 RBI. In the field, McCabe had a .922 fielding percentage with 126 assists, 63 putouts with just 16 errors.
Opening weekend for the 2020 Baseball schedule is Feb. 14-16, 2020. Follow all the action for BIG EAST baseball this season with the hashtag #BIGEASTbase.
2020 Preseason Baseball All-BIG EAST Team and Awards
Preseason Player of the Year
Mike Antico, St. John’s, Sr., OF ^
Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Connor Schultz, Butler, Jr., RHP
Preseason All-BIG EAST *
Natale Monastra, Xavier, Sr., C
^ Matt Toke, Seton Hall, 1B
Ryan Altenberger, Xavier, Jr., 2B
Jack Housinger, Xavier, So., SS
Eddie McCabe, Georgetown, Jr., 3B
Ryan Mantle, Creighton, RS-Sr., DH
^ Mike Antico, St. John’s, Sr., OF
Tyler Shedler-McAvoy, Seton Hall, Sr., OF
Jared Wegner, Creighton, So., OF
^ Connor Schultz, Butler, Jr., RHP
Noah Thompson, Seton Hall, Sr., RHP
Nick LoRusso, Villanova, So., INF/RHP
Nick Mondak, St. John’s, Sr., LHP
Gordon Graceffo, Villanova, So., RHP
David Festa, Seton Hall, So., RHP
^ Lane Flamm, Xavier, So., RHP (RP)
Preseason Coaches’ Poll
First place votes in ( )
1. Creighton (2) – 29 pts.
T2. Seton Hall (3) – 28
T2. St. John’s (1) – 28
T2. Xavier – 28
5. Butler – 14
6. Villanova – 11
7. Georgetown – 9
^ – denotes unanimous selection
* due to a tie in voting, there are six starting pitchers on the preseason all-conference team
